Flags from the four Nordic countries colourfully flutter outside the Norsewood Information Centre.JOHANNA’S WORLD Honouring the Scandinavian settlers’ grit and determination Freelance writer and author Roy Sinclair admits to believing that it was Scottish immigrants who tackled much of the hard work in pioneer New Zealand – until he caught up with the Scandinavian connection in the lower reaches of the North Island. On his recent travels “up north” he visited the town and museum dedicated to those hardy immigrants whose knowledge of the English language was as foreign as the untamed land that was to be their new home. In this article Roy shares his story and the photographs. F rom the 1870s Scandinavian settlers set out to clear a large region of impossibly dense forest that was blocking the building of railways and roads between the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay. They were faced with broken promises, floods, fire and economic depression. The infamous area they toiled in became known as the “Seventy-mile bush.’’ In 2008 I had toured the four Nordic countries by bicycle. I especially enjoyed meeting the Danes, and Norway with its Fjords, pointed mountains, and trollinspired folklore became the most satisfying country I have cycled in. Predictably, I included the northern Tararua district’s town of Norsewood in a recent bicycle journey heading from Masterton to the East Cape. I followed State Highway 2 north from Dannevirke (The Danes’ Work) and detoured up a punishing hill to the appropriately named Upper Norsewood. In 1966 re-alignment of SH2 dissected the town. These days Lower Norsewood has the well-known Natural Clothing and Kiwi sock shop, community hall, and playground. Upp e r Nor s e wo o d , m a i nt a i n i n g a distinctive Nordic atmosphere, is the heritage village with information centre, 14 HERITAGE MATTERS school, pioneer museum and settlers’ cemetery. Struggling up the hill I spotted the Norsewood welcome sign sporting the distinctive wood “Scandi’’ wheel. Invented by Scandinavian settlers, it has spokes set inside a square for the extra strength required for carrying logs along rough forest tracks. Then, I was overlooking Johanna’s World, a recreation of a Norwegian rural settlement, complete with New Zealand’s only Stave church created by Øystein Andresen, author of the fascinating book Johanna’s World relating the story of the pioneers of Norsewood. Ø y s t e i n A n d r e s e n’s b o o k s e e s Norsewood’s pioneering through Johanna’s eyes, albeit with a little of the author’s creativity added. A long-time journalist, his story was meticulously compiled having met the last of the descendents of those settlers, including Johanna’s last child, Hannah. They delighted re-telling the stories of their grandparents. Sitting outside the backpackers, which is part of Johanna’s World, I met Nina, the Norwegian sister of Øystein. She shared her sad tale of coming to New Zealand because her brother was dying from cancer. I met Øystein Andresen, briefly, but did not want to press him for an interview or photograph. He died about three weeks later. A Bindalsfaering, or traditional Viking fishing boat, presented by the Norwegian government in 1972 to mark Norsewood’s centenary. Striking mural in Norsewood’s Coronation Street. The bullock wagon is supported on the distinctive Scandi wheels. Artist is Bettina McCulloch 2008. HERITAGE MATTERS 15 The Norsewood Pioneer Museum, open daily from 8.30am-5pm. The building is the second Lutheran pastors’ residence, built by Pastor Reis after the big fire of 1888 that reduced much of Norsewood to ashes including Pastor Reis’s precious books. Johanna and her husband Christian Christiansen were among the 328 Norwegians who arrived in Napier aboard the sailing ship Høvding on 15 September 1872. The settlers had departed Norway as poverty-stricken tenant farmers to seek a better life where they were offered assisted passage from Christiana (Oslo) and 40 acres (about 16 hectares) of land in New Zealand (Ny Seland). The United States had been the preferred choice for escaping Norway, and by 1870 almost 15,000 people had emigrated equating to 8.55 people in every 1000. But America was sliding into economic depression leaving New Zealand as an alternative. A f ter a horrendous journey that lasted three and half months and nearly ended in disaster at sea, their arrival in Napier was accompanied by a terrifying Maori “welcome’’ that sent many would be immigrants scurrying back on board. Were these ferocious people cannibals? The Norwegians brave enough to stay trekked over 100 km to Norsewood. A small number of Danish elected to go even further to Dannevirke. 16 HERITAGE MATTERS To pay for the land, the men needed to leave home and work as part of the Colonial Treasurer Julius Vogel’s ambitious and, perhaps, over-optimistic public works programme. This left the women folk to care for the yet to be cleared land as well as their children. The settlers felt let down as they quickly realised they were slipping into a new life of poverty especially when government-sponsored work declined. Even the promised railway by-passed Norsewood. The forest was so dense it emitted very little daylight. One hapless woman, having carefully locked her two children in the The troll shed displaying items which were relevant to Johanna Christiansen’s life – in Norway and New Zealand. house, went in search of the family’s milking cow. She was soon herself lost and wandered in circles for two days. Her body was found at Butcher’s Creek, just a few chains from her home. Neighbours had already discovered the hungry, distressed, children. But the Viking spirit persisted, the women raising chickens and growing vegetables. They industriously carried their produce to nearby towns and established popular produce markets. The great fire of February 1888 wiped out much of Norsewood. The fire unleashed its heroic people, particularly the Danish Lutheran Pastor Reis who left his own house to burn along with his precious books, harnessing his horse and dray to transport the women and children to safety. He later rebuilt his house which is now the Pioneer Museum. Ironically his church also burned but the pub survived – an ill omen for these God faring people? At least, the falling ash from the spent forest fire helped to fertilise the struggling soil. Eventually, Norsewood people experienced better times. With little government work they established their own sawmilling and dairy factories. These days dairy farming supports the district. In Coronation Street, Norsewood’s main street, is a vibrant information centre disguised behind a colourful fluttering of Nordic flags. There I met Eva Renbjor from Trondheim. She and her husband, Bjorn, spend six months of the year in Norsewood. They invited me to afternoon coffee in their nearby house. Eva and Bjorn speak excellent English. Bjorn had been a seafarer and explained how he “discovered” New Zealand. “I was on a ship leaving Fremantle in 1967. I thought I could see New Zealand far away so I asked the boss (captain) ‘Couldn’t we go there?’ He said ‘No’. When I got home I happened to mentioned it to my wife. She was happy to go to New Zealand and one day she bought the ticket. That was 14 years ago.” Bjorn says he loved to work on ships plying the Norwegian coast. But he heard a lot of talk about New Zealand from Trollheimen (Troll house), one of the traditional Norwegian buildings of the recreated Johanna’s World. sheepshearers visiting Norway. He learned New Zealanders did some creative things with wool apart from making good socks. “If I had any sheep to sell, I had better take them to New Zealand, they told me.’’ They like to escape the Norwegian winter and in 2003 they decided to build their dream home, a delightful cottage, but friends insisted they build a Norwegian house. Bjorn built the house in just six weeks – he had to have it finished for Christmas when family were visiting. The building coincided with the worst weather they had experienced in Norsewood. “The local newspaper journalist visited having heard about this crazy Norwegian. The wind capsized everything that day. It gave her a good story.’’ In the bookshelf of the backpackers Roy found Johanna’s World, and started reading... Immigrant shipping records were not carefully compiled but they have Høvding arriving in Napier on 15 September 1872 with 328 Norwegian, 16 Swedish, and some Danish immigrants. On the same day the Ballarat arrived in Napier, from London, with a further 71 Danish immigrants. Høvding returned in 1873 with 369, mostly Norwegian, immigrants. Some Scandinavians left New Zealand for the United States when that economy recovered. Scandinavians were favoured for New Zealand owing to their hard-working reputation and rural forestry experience. • Norsewood holds an annual Scandinavian Summer Festival. • Norway’s national day is celebrated in Norsewood in May. • Kirstine Neilson, originator of New Zealand Health stamps lived in Norsewood. • The Norsewood Country Women’s Institute, founded in 1922, is the oldest in New Zealand. • Sporting stars including Olympic athlete Murray Halberg, Olympic rower Mahe Drysdale and worldchampion axe man Dave Bolstad have Scandinavian ancestry HERITAGE MATTERS 17 She returned when it was finished, “so I got into the newspaper twice’’, he says. Insurance company people couldn’t believe how quick the building was. “There was nothing there the other day. Now there is a house,’’ they said. The house is cosy when cold and pleasantly cool in warm weather. “Visitors from Norway love it here. They don’t want to go home,’’ says Bjorn, while Eva explains; “Norwegians are much like Kiwis, with 300 persons living here the feeling is like a family.” Yet it is family in Norway that keeps Bjorn and Eva from living in New Zealand fulltime. What would the early pioneers have given for the pleasure of today’s comparatively easy and affordable travel to return home, or have friends and family visit them in the young colony? But then, would they have stayed to tame the bush, develop the land and make the country what it is now? I spent the night, alone, in the Andresen backpackers. It was raining. I surveyed the walls to find an old Norwegian scene of a lodge and trekkers titled “Norwegian backpackers 1892”. A colour poster of a trekker gazing into blue misty hills reads “Dreaming of Aotearoa.” [Further reading: Scandinavian Footprints – the story of Scandinavians settling in New Zealand, by Margit Brew, self-published. From the book’s back cover: “With the economic depression of the 1870s stalling progress, the New Zealand Government turned to Scandinavia for help. It was the Norwegians, Swedes and Danes who arrived to take up the challenge of clearing the extremely dense bush of the Wairarapa, Manawatu, and Hawke’s Bay. These lumbermen, farmers and carpenters proved their capacity for great hardship and perseverance. They opened up new parts of the country for development and enabled roads and railways to be built. Sober and industrious, they impressed other settlers with their cheerful disposition.”] New Zealand’s only Stave church – Maria Stavkirke (St Mary’s) is popular for weddings and ecumenical services. Norwegian stave churches were typically built in the 12th century. Only a small number of good examples can be found in Norway. The photo on the wall in the Andresen backpackers titled “Norwegian backpackers in 1892”. 18 HERITAGE MATTERS